Young stars shine at The One competition

The directors of The One have hailed the success of a competition that brought artists and bands from across East Sussex, West Sussex and Kent to finals in Burgess Hill.

Robert Eggleston said: “We’re delighted by the success of The One, and the talent that was on display was simply amazing.

The Rich List

“We delivered an open competition and have shown that there is no barrier to winning even if you are not local. The One is all about developing talent and we are very excited by the results we achieved.”

On Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15, more than 40 bands and artists played to a packed Martlets Hall, Burgess Hill, in the finals. Over three shows soloists, duos and bands delivered performances of high emotion and high octane as they sought to win the audiences’ and judges’ votes.

The first show on Saturday was for 11 to 13-year-olds and in a closely fought vote Eleanor Kerr and Lucy Heathcote, both from Haywards Heath, jointly tied in the audience vote for best soloist with performances of ‘Take Me To Church’ by Hozier and ‘Take It All’ by Adele.

Olivia Clark, from Tunbridge Wells, walked away with the judges’ award with ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ by Kelly Clarkson. The band Restless, from Haywards Heath, picked up both the audience and judges’ award with a performance of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Crazy Train’. A performance award also went to Rhea Steele, from Cuckfield, who sang ‘Little Me’ by Little Mix.

Nathanael Landskroner

It was then on to the evening show for 14-15 year olds. The judges were joined by Kevin King, breakfast presenter on Bright FM, and vocal coach Rebecca Dowden.

Horsted Keynes trio, All The Lights, brought the house down with a hugely entertaining version of Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and Green Day’s ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, helping them claim the audience award for best band. Not to be outdone, The Link, coming all the way from Hastings, took away the judges’ prize with an original song and Muse’s ‘Hysteria’. In the soloist category, Annabel Mather, from Storrington, picked up the audience and judges’ awards with My Chemical Romance’s ‘The Light Behind Your Eyes’.

On Sunday night The One came back for another final featuring artists aged 16 to 24. The judging panel was joined by Della Smith, a scout for Syco and The X Factor.

Nathanael Landskroner from Horsham won everybody’s hearts with ‘Say Something’ by A Great Big World and his own composition ‘Braking in the Fast Lane’. His assured performance won him both the audience and judges’ awards for a 16-year-old. Katherine Hastings, from Haywards Heath, sang her way to the judges’ and audience award for best 17 to 24-year-old soloist with two of her own compositions (‘Harbour Lights’ and ‘You in the Mirror’). She shared the audience award with Daisy Taylor, from Tunbridge Wells, singing Laura Marling’s ‘My Man and I’ and The Script’s ‘That Can’t Be Moved’.

Daisy Taylor

In the 16-year-old band category Catching Mangoes, from Forest Row, swept the board with two original compositions, and The Rich List repeated the feat in the 17 to 24-year-old category with Artic Monkey’s ‘Balaclava’ and Paramore’s ‘CrushCrushCrush’. Empire, from Haywards Heath, picked up a performance award with a driving rendition of ‘Ain’t It Fun’ by Paramore.

Over the three nights there were also nominations for the best duo and best original artist and original band. Awards for these categories will be made at The One Showcase to be held on Sunday, June 14, at the Martlets.

If you want to see the talent on show then come to the Showcase and watch out for details of The One 2016 on www.theone.eu.com.